Anticorrosive characteristics of imidazole derivative on carbon steel in 1 M HCl: Original scientific paper

The novelty of the work is to scrutinize for the first time the 4R,5S- 2,4,5-tris(4-ethoxy­phenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole (TEPI) as a corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel (C35E) in the acidic medium. The inhibitory properties of TEPI were assessed through various methods, including electrochemical, spectroscopic, and surface analysis, as well as quantum chemical calculations. The protective effect of C35E was seen to expand as the TEPI amount was extended but to diminish as temperature was augmented, fulfilling 98.3 % at 1 mM under 303 K. Certain thermodynamic and kinetic indices were estimated and explored. The TEPI complied with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm when it adsorbs on the C35E surface. TEPI behaviour was revealed by polarization trials to be of mixed type. The establishment of an adsorption-linked preventive TEPI layer on the C35E surface has been disclosed thanks to surface analysis. The outcomes of scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy clearly illustrate that TEPI can effi­ci­ently adsorb at the C35E interface, substantially reducing C35E steel corrosion. UV-visible analysis of the inhibited electrolyte clearly reveals the complexation of iron cations with TEPI molecules. The density functional theory, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamic simulation were adopted to check out the adsorption characteristics of the TEPI onto C35E surface. The laboratory outcomes have been proven by DFT and MDS.